He shook his head. “I wouldn’t say… creepy.” He chuckled softly and the sound made her smile. “I don’t know what it sounds like,” he explained, “but it’s… different.”
He held out his hand and she took it in her own. “I’m Ranger McCrae King. Most people call me Duval.”
She shook his hand and nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Ranger McCrae.”
He smiled at her words and the let go of each others’ hands.
“I’m here because we could use your help, MissNoelleGarcia.”
“Myhelp?”
He nodded. “We have a body-”
“A skull,” she leaned a little toward him. “You want me to look at a skull.”
He paused, seemingly thinking over her words. “Yes, a skull.”
Smiling, she rocked up onto the balls of her heel and back down flat on her feet. “Okay. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 2
NOELLE
For some reason, she expected him to take her to a laboratory or a morgue or something.
She didnotexpect to take a nice long drive out to a rural area with ranch fencing.
While they were driving out in Ranger McCrae’s Ford F-150, Noelle put the passenger window down and turned her face into the wind.
Her eyes were closed at first. When she opened them, she sat back against the seat and sighed. “It’s so beautiful out here.”
She didn’t hear anything in the cab of the truck besides a song playing over the speakers that sounded like, “Brad Paisley?”
“Mmm hmm.”
She turned to look at the Ranger and got a good look at his profile.
It was just as beautiful as it was inside the museum and the half a dozen other times she’d looked at him since.
The man was just that gifted.
Her gaze moved down from his face, along his neck, and down to his shoulder and along his arm.
The whole time she was looking at him, she was humming along to the song on the radio.
“Interesting?”
“Hmm?”
He repeated his question, adding more this time. “Is it interesting?”
She bit into her lip as she got down to his hands holding the steering wheel of the truck. “What is?”
“Whatever you’re looking at?”
She flicked her gaze up to his face.
He wasn’t looking at her, but she had a feeling that he could tell what she was looking at.
